An excellent spirit

² The Lord was with Joseph and he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master. ³ When his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord gave him success in everything he did, ⁴ Joseph found favour in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. Genesis 39: 2 – 4

Joseph is a wonderful example of doing great things with God in the midst of his everyday life. As we have seen before, (Freedom from slavery - January) Joseph could have taken the view after he was sold into slavery by his brothers that life was unfair, his brothers horrible and he would do the minimum required to get by. He could have played the blame game, turned his back on God and his dreams and given up.

However we read that God was with Joseph so much so that Potiphar could see that God gave him success and was prospering him. Potiphar was an idol worshipping, respected Egyptian not given to flights of fancy.  God’s presence in and on Joseph’s life must have been both obvious and impressive to him to trust a young foreigner with the responsibility of all his affairs.

I think that the way this was evidenced was by Joseph’s excellent spirit and attitude to work which showed in a reliable, responsible, trustworthy, diligent and honest work ethic. On this framework God was able to hang favour, blessing and success.

God’s presence in our lives can also be obvious to unbelievers and our excellent attitudes to work and responsibilities can also be like a framework that God hangs his blessings on. Joseph did great things as a slave which laid a foundation for the fulfilment of his dreams. We too can do great things by our excellent attitudes in our everyday lives which will lay a foundation for the fulfilment of our dreams too.

However can you also imagine the difference it would make to our nations if the Christians had the same excellent spirit in their workplaces; schools, shops, businesses, government, hospitals and so on. All these places would be blessed by the Christians working there and so would our nations. Joseph had a profound effect on Egypt and I believe Christians can and should affect their nations as well.